


Off-Colour

by goldarrow



Series: Dragon!ARC [2]
Category: Primeval
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 07:28:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20385940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goldarrow/pseuds/goldarrow
Summary: A child is lost on the other side of an anomaly.





	Off-Colour

**Author's Note:**

> Characters/Pairing: pre Stephen/Ryan  
Finn, Ditzy, Lyle, Fiver, Fizz and Blade belong to Fredbassett, Blackwood is mine.
> 
> Disclaimer: Everything recognisable to Primeval belongs to Impossible Pictures. I just borrow them for fun. I shall return them in immaculate condition once I’m done with them.

Off-Colour

"What do we have?" Ryan stepped closer to the anomaly, eyeing it carefully. The opaque shards of time circled serenely around the cloudy centre, giving no indication of their danger – or their seductiveness to the curious.

Turning to face him, Stephen spoke tersely. "A child."

"Fuck." Ryan's heart dropped. "How old?"

A hint of bronze showed in Stephen's eyes before he turned back to stare into the anomaly. "About 9 or 10, according to the witness."

Ryan looked around, not seeing anyone other than their own troops and the scientific team, who, with the exception of Stephen, were huddled around the portable ADD, arguing about – or perhaps that was their idea of discussing – something that was showing on the screen.

"Claudia's taken him away to sign the Official Secrets Act." Stephen obviously knew Ryan a little too well, if he could deduce that Ryan was wondering where the witness was from a simple glance around.

Ryan placed a careful hand on Stephen's back. The last thing they needed was for their tracker to Shift under emotional strain. Bronzes, when either human or dragon, were the most level-headed of the Colours, with their bent toward scientific research, but if they Shifted when angry or frightened, that emotion tended to bleed over. An overly-emotional Bronze dragon could be dangerous to anyone who got in his or her way. They basically took no prisoners. Anyone or anything that stood between them and their goal would be annihilated, quickly and without remorse.

"We'll find him." Ryan projected as much reassurance as he could. He knew he couldn't match either Lester or Major Preston's golden authority, but his silver wasn't too far behind with his military training to hone his natural abilities.

A slight growl escaped Stephen's throat. "Her." His voice was deepening, becoming harsher. "It's a little girl."

Ryan swung Stephen around to stare straight into his now fully bronze eyes. "Stephen. Stop. Now. You're just going to make things worse and you know it. We need your tracking ability, so fucking get hold of yourself." After a slight shake, he released the tracker and stepped back.

Stephen took a few deep breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth, invoking the Discipline that all citizens were trained in at puberty. His shoulders lowered, his eyes slowly fading back to their normal cobalt blue. "Thanks." He shook himself all over. "Thanks. I haven't lost it like that in years." An uncomfortable smile widened his lips and was as quickly extinguished.

"Don't worry about it," Ryan replied. "Just hang on for a few more minutes. My team is kitting up, then we'll go through and find her."

"I'm going." If he'd been military, Stephen's tone would have resulted in a firm reprimand, but Ryan overlooked it.

"Of course," he said, allowing surprise to colour his own tone.

Stephen dropped his eyes. "Yeah," he muttered. "Sorry. I know – I'm just…"

Ryan clasped his shoulder again. "I know, too, Stephen. Don't worry. She won't be lost like your cousin was." As the commanding officer of the ARC's military contingent, Ryan had full files on all of the personnel. He knew about Stephen's lost cousin and how it had affected the youngster when she'd been found, too late, her tiny body twisted in death after a fall from a steep cliff on a holiday outing. She must have been too upset or too scared to Shift.

Eyes and mouth wide, Stephen stared at Ryan, who simply tightened his grip for a moment before releasing it and taking a status report from Lyle.

"Everything's set," the silver-clan lieutenant stated. "The anomaly looks to be pretty stable, Connor says, and the team's prepared for both ground and flight manoeuvres."

"We're a go, then." Ryan gestured, and Stephen stepped up to the anomaly, flanked by Lyle and Blade.

"Two minutes to check for tracks, then call us through or come back if you don't find any."

At Lyle's nod, the three men stepped through and disappeared. Ryan shook his head. He didn't think he'd ever get used to watching that. It was unsettling to see someone walk into a circular cloud but not reappear out the other side.

He was still watching the cloud when an arm pushed back through and waved them forward.

"Search team, go!" Ryan trotted through the anomaly. Not because he wanted to be first, though of course he did, but because he hated the electric feeling of every hair on his body standing out, and the wash of light around the edges of his vision as he passed through. Unnatural, that's what it was. Unnatural and uncontrolled. And both of those were things that Ryan really didn’t approve of.

Stephen was looking toward him as Ryan entered the humid heat.

"When?" Ryan asked.

His arms crossed protectively over his chest, Stephen closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "Late Cretaceous."

"Fuck." Ryan glanced over at Lyle, who nodded and set up a guard perimeter that would enable Stephen to track without interference and also without being in danger.

"You're up, Stephen." Ryan stepped forward, to stand right behind Stephen's shoulder. "Lead on."

Eyes on the ground, Stephen set off at a slow but steady lope. The traces of the passage of the child were clear on the ground, a recent rain having softened the earth to hold tracks well.

They passed out of sight of the anomaly, which gave Ryan the twitches. He hated taking the chance that they would be lost in the past, but in this case the child was more important than his fears. He kept an eye out in their direction of movement, knowing that Lyle and the team would be watching the sides and rear to keep them safe. His team knew their jobs.

"Stop." Stephen's voice was soft, but audible to everyone on the team. "She's close, but she's scared. I can hear her whimpering. Something frightened her badly."

He moved forward slowly, step by step, with Ryan shadowing him. He waved Ryan up beside him. "I'm going to follow her steps. You call for her – softly. There's something up ahead that might or might not be dangerous."

Ryan held him back. "Let us check for the danger, first." He turned to Finn. "Your eyesight is the best of us all. Shift, go high, find out what's there and report back."  
  
Finn nodded, disconnected his weapon harness, passing it to Blade, and stepped away from the rest of the group. Smoothly Shifting, he unfurled his bronze wings to their full extent. It took only three strides and one powerful down-stroke to raise him into the air. Beating strongly back in the direction they'd come from to gain some height before he entered unknown territory, he made a large circle and slowed once he was back over them again.

Watching him, Ryan wondered, as he often did, how a bronze, supposedly scientifically inclined, could turn out to be such an effective soldier that he ended up in Special Forces. He stopped that line of thought – it wasn't a good idea for him, as commander, to pigeon-hole any of his men. Or women. Even though their SRR sub Amy Blackwood was a copper, which was supposedly an organisational type, Blackwood could take down a good third of the SF teams in hand-to-hand. Granted, she was very organised (and Ryan had to grin at the memory of some of her scathing comments about the rest of the team's lack of ability to file decent reports), but she was military down to her bones.

Finn hovered. Ryan's grip tightened on his weapon, and the rest of the team straightened, their attention split between the ground around them and the dragon overhead.

"Damn it." Stephen's whisper caught Ryan's attention. "She's seen him. She's too scared to call out, but I think she's going to come out of her hiding place." He cast a cautious glance up at Finn, whose long tail was weaving in small, short movements.

Ryan translated the code. "You're right. He can see her now, she's crawled out of her little tunnel." He spun around, signalling to the team, who were already preparing, having read the same information. "There's a flock of raptors heading for her. Stephen, call her. Get her over here fast."

Blessedly, this time Stephen controlled his emotions. With a quick nod, he turned and strode up the hill, stopping just before he reached the top. Raising his head slowly, he cupped his mouth in his hands, hoping to make the call a bit more directional.

"Little girl, little girl, we're here to help. We're from home. Come toward my voice. Finn is in the air, he's watching over you. Come here, there's a whole team to help you."

Ryan could hear her now, whimpering, terrified, but moving closer. Stephen's shoulders were relaxing a little as he continued to call her, giving her a voice to home in on, a sound to bring her to them.

He glanced up at Finn, hoping for good news but having to bite back a curse, instead. The raptors had found the girl's scent trail and were coming fast. Faster than the girl. They were running out of time.

"Stephen, is she in the open?"

The tracker glanced over his shoulder, eyes widening as he realised what Ryan was saying. "Yes." Short, sweet and to the point.

Ryan waved to his lieutenant. "Lyle, wings and grab the girl. Blade, back Stephen, he's going to be their next target. Fiver, Blackwood, flank protection. Ditzy, with me. When Lyle gets back, grab the girl and go."

A soft chorus of voices acknowledged Ryan's orders. Lyle dropped his weapon harness, the equipment barely hitting the ground before he Shifted, beating into the air so quickly that he sent a dust wave up behind him. Blade moved up beside Stephen, his sharp green eyes taking in the situation immediately.

Everything was going smoothly until suddenly it wasn't. Ryan heard the girl squeak as Lyle grabbed her from behind, but Stephen's shouted, "It's okay, he's with us!" seemed to calm her, as there was no repeat of the sound.

Lyle came low over the hill, wings beating hard, with the girl wrapped in his front claws and pressed to his chest, causing both Blade and Stephen to duck, Stephen silently and Blade with a muttered curse. Ditzy stepped forward to catch the girl as Lyle swooped down and let go of her. She screamed and tried to grab him, thinking he was abandoning her but he twisted in the air and she missed her grip.

Ditzy called out as he reached out to catch her. The moment his hands touched her, she wrapped herself around him like a limpet, her scream tailing off into a whimper.

"You're safe," the medic crooned as he turned to head back for the anomaly at a dead run.

"Fiver, guard," Ryan started to order, just as all hell broke loose.

The raptors came over the hill with Finn right behind them, slashing with his fore-claws but unable to use flame with Stephen and Blade in the way. Suddenly, out of nowhere an irate flock of pteranodons swooped down, furious at the strange fliers in their territory.

"Holy fuck!" Ditzy dove for the ground, protecting the girl with his body as Lyle swooped right over their heads, Shifting back to human whilst still in the air.

The lieutenant landed on the ground on his two feet, rolled forward to grab his weapon harness, wrapped it around himself, buckled it in place as he continued the roll and came back to his feet with weapon deployed. Ignoring the pteranodons for the moment, he started shooting in short bursts at the raptors that had Stephen and Blade pinned at the edge of the clearing, the tracker with his back to the largest tree they could find and Blade's handgun in his hand, Blade down low, shooting single shots with his battle rifle at any raptor that wasn't between him and one of the other soldiers.

Cursing internally at the unwanted validation of his standing policy not to fly in prehistoric times, Ryan motioned for Finn to Shift back, hoping that with the disappearance of the dragons the pteranodons would consider themselves to be the victors and piss off home. He kept an eye on the flying creatures as Finn landed and re-joined the fight in human form, buckling his weapon harness around himself as efficiently as Lyle had.

"Blade, get Stephen back through the anomaly." Ryan spoke in short phrases between bursts of fire at the raptors. "Stephen, no arguments!"

The tracker gave a slightly breathless chuckle, his eyes flashing alternately bronze and blue. "No worries, Ryan, I hate these fucking things." He raised his handgun and shot one of the raptors right between the eyes as it leapt at him.

Blade nodded. "Good one, Hart." He motioned with his left hand. "Stay at the edge of the trees, keep an eye between them in case the raptors try to circle. I'll be casing front and into the clearing. Move when I say." He paused, eyes on the raptors still ganging up on the Special Forces team. "Now!" A quick shove and Stephen headed for the next tree.

Ryan knew he could leave Stephen's safety in Blade's capable hands. He ripped three bullets straight down the throat of a raptor that came out of nowhere with its mouth gaping open and knifelike teeth bared.

A child's scream yanked his head around as if the sound had been a rope, but the sound of gunfire and Ditzy's immediate yell "Okay!" stopped him from making a run for them.

There was a momentary lull, and Ryan straightened from his battle crouch to his full height so he could see around the clearing. Stephen and Blade were making a run for the path to the anomaly, Lyle was standing over what looked like a slightly injured Finn, who was cursing a blue streak as he wrapped his gashed forearm in a rag cut from his uniform shirt.

Ryan winced. A slice in that place was going to keep Finn off the flying list for at least a week. The soldier wasn't going to be pleased. Fiver and Blackwood were back to back at the edge of the clearing next to the path, keeping an eye out both at ground level and up in the air.

"Everyone back through. Fiver, Blackwood, lead. Stephen, Blade, Finn next. Lyle, with me." No one bothered to reply, they simply fell into formation and hot-footed it back to the anomaly. A spot between Ryan's shoulder blades was itching, but a quick glance at Lyle's hands showed no twitching, so he contented himself with a few extra glances behind.

The team pelted back through the time-shards, and Connor slapped his hand down on the locking mechanism's big red button. Ryan had asked him once why he'd made such a large activation button. Connor had grinned and babbled something about "never being allowed to press the big red button". Ryan had simply smiled and nodded.

"Report, Ditzy!" Ryan headed straight for the medic's vehicle after a quick nod to Stephen, whose eyes were now uniformly blue, to Ryan's relief.

The medic looked up from where he was rewrapping Finn's forearm. "The girl's going to be fine. She was scared, but only had a few bruises and scratches." He nodded over to where the child was standing still, her hair dusty and matted, but her eyes fixed on Amy Blackwood's hands. The half-Chinese SRR Sergeant had a piece of paper, and was folding an origami crane, her quick, precise movements fascinating the child. Blackwood glanced over at Ryan and winked, before pressing the crane into the girl's hands. The look of surprise on her face when the child grabbed her into a strong hug made Ryan wish for a camera. Blackwood wouldn't have appreciated it showing up on the ARC's message board, but any revenge she might have devised would have been worth it.

"And Finn?"

Finn growled, his eyes flashing copper for a second. Ditzy grinned. "He'll be off flying duty for about a week. It's not as bad as it looked, but it's in an awkward place. He could damage his wingtip foresail if he flies too soon."

Finn deflated. Foresail damage close to the end of the wing could cause thickening from scar tissue, making precision flight movements impossible. No soldier ever took a chance with that.

"Right." Ryan nodded at them. "Let's pack it up, lads. Fiver, Fizz, you stay on guard until it closes."

Ryan walked over to Stephen. "You okay?"

The tracker nodded. "Yes." He hesitated. "I'm sorry about earlier."

"It's okay. You held it together when you needed to."

Stephen fidgeted for a moment. "I was afraid you wouldn't let me go through again."

That surprised Ryan. Stephen was a civilian, so he wasn't expected to be as disciplined as the members of the military. "You did fine, Stephen. You obeyed when it was important, so you weren't a liability."

The tracker's shoulders relaxed. "Thanks, Ryan. I appreciate that." He started to turn away to get into his vehicle.

Ryan hesitated. He knew, deep down, that getting involved with a teammate was a very bad idea, but he could rationalise it by telling himself that Stephen wasn't exactly a teammate, being a civilian. "Would you like to go get a drink this evening?" he asked.

Stephen stilled, half in and half out of the car. Straightening up again, he turned back to look straight at Ryan, an expression of deep thought on his face. Then he smiled, his entire face lighting up in a way that Ryan was greatly afraid would become an addiction for him.

"I'd love to," Stephen replied. "About 7?"

Throwing caution to the winds, Ryan grinned back. "That will be perfect. I'll meet you in the car park."

"Great. I rode in with Cutter this morning, so we can take your car." Stephen slid into his car, chuckling at Connor and Abby, who were laughingly taking the piss about his 'date'.

Ryan stood and watched them drive off, with what he knew had to be a silly grin on his own face.

"He's a good one."

Ryan turned to see Lyle standing at his shoulder.

Lyle nodded to the disappearing vehicle. "Hart. He's a good one."

"I heard you the first time," Ryan grumbled, then clapped his lieutenant on the shoulder. "And I agree. Let's get back to the ARC."

The two men turned as one to enter their own vehicle.

  
End


End file.
